Tag: rocket

Human being started using animals to carry load when it exceeded his carrying capacity. Then he started building machines to carry even more load & to transport faster. Today huge trucks carry massive amounts of load & the best example is the biggest truck in the world – The BelAZ 75710 which can carry 450 tons of dirt. Still, there was something left, something to be made to carry these massive rockets & space shuttles. So how are they transported ? The answer is – CRAWLER !

Crawlers are a pair of tracked vehicles used by NASA to transport rockets & space shuttles from NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to the Launch Complex 39 ! where,

Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) is a rocket launch site at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island in Florida, USA. Launch Complex 39 is composed of three launch pads—39A, 39B and 39C.The Crawlerway is a 40 m double pathway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It runs between the Vehicle Assembly Building and the two launch pads at Launch Complex 39.

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Facts :-

The crawler-transporter is the largest self-powered land vehicle in the world.

The crawler has a mass of 2,721,000 kilograms (5,999,000 lb) and has eight tracks, two on each corner.

The vehicle measures 40 by 35 metres (131 by 114 ft). The height from ground level to the platform is adjustable from 6.1 to 7.9 m (20 to 26 ft), and each side can be raised and lowered independently.

After an overwhelming success of Mars rover mission 2012, NASA’s next nuclear powered Mars rover is planned to launch in 2020. Scientists say that – it is gonna be way more smarter & efficient than Curiosity, which is currently exploring the red planet.

I mean seriously, this thing is the LORD of robots… just look at it & it’s complexities ! (source:- reddit.com)

Curiosity had an awesome design, heck lot of instruments, also its launch & entry into atmosphere of Mars & its landing – all went perfect as planned.

The rover 2020 mission is planned to explore a selected site which is geologically diverse & gives signs of having a past life.

This rover will collect samples of soil & rock and drop them at a selected point. Later those samples will be scooped up another mission to deliver the specimens collected back to Earth. The development of this mission is a combination of the “old” and the “new,” said Gentry Lee, chief engineer for Solar System Exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. Mission engineers said that the rover is going to get a new refined design.

Curiosity has been battling wear & tear on its wheels.

Damage caused to the wheels of Curiosity ! (source:- mars.nasa.gov)

The 2020 rover wheels are going to become more heavy along with the rover’s body becoming a little longer. That may change the rover’s mobility system.

We are really looking at ways to make this largely heritage, built-to-print rover drive faster and do more science on the surface of Mars

said Jennifer Trosper, JPL’s mission manager on Mars 2020.

The future rover would have machines which will increase the speed of it even on rough terrains, Trosper said.

Instruments selected for rover 2020 mission which are also assembled on Curiosity. (source:- mars.nasa.gov)

NASA has performed a nearly 9 minute long test of the engine called RS-25 which will be used for next generation mega-rockets which will take the astronauts to Mars & other deep space missions.

The agency successfully tested an RS-25 engine at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. A total of four RS-25 engines will be used to power the SLS rocket (Space Launch System).

The engine was tested for 535 seconds, which is the same amount of time the engines will fire uring actual SLS launch.

The test was the sixth of seven planned hot-fire trials for the RS-25, which also served as the main engine for NASA’s now-retired space shuttle fleet, ‘Space.com’ reported. The seven-test series is “designed to put the upgraded former space shuttle main engines through the rigorous temperature and pressure conditions they will experience during a launch,” NASA officials said.

“The tests also support the development of a new controller, or ‘brain,’for the engine, which monitors engine status and communicates between the vehicle and the engine, relaying commands to the engine and transmitting data back to the vehicle,” the officials added.

Our daily life Internal Combustion Engines used in cars & bikes can be cooled by air & water or coolant circulating around it. But what about rocket engines ? How rocket engines cooling system work ?

The engines of rocket heat up upto 6000°C. At this temperature, the metals would become so hot that they would melt & even some of them would vaporise. Circulating water or a normal coolant around it wasn’t going to help. Finally, rocket scientists have to take the engine cooling to a whole new level.more “How rocket engines cooling system work ?”

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About MechStuff :-

MechStuff is a blog for people who have passion for learning mechanics, mechanical principles, mechanisms & science behind machines/vehicles. In other words, it is for them who get an adrenaline rush when they hear the sounds of super sport cars, jet engines, locomotives & what not !!! :D